Unfair Stereotypes

A "Winds of Change" story

By Jon Sleeper

The last thing I remembered was hitting the wall after Tim's oversized fist contacted my nose.

The next, waking up in a hospital bed, with the doctor telling me that I was lucky that I wasn't human. "He would've shattered your face with that punch," the badger woman said. "But according to some reference material I've got, and some precedents from similar injuries suffered by similar morphs, you're going to heal up fine. The only thing he gave you was a bloody nose" Maxine, who was sitting at my side on a stool, smiled. Then she started massaging me around my pedicles.

I closed my eyes in pleasure. "Thank you." Then I thought a moment. "You know I have the oddest feeling like we've met like this before. Only you were the one in the hospital bed..."

She paused a moment, thinking. "You know you're right? Oh well. You fur is soft and I like petting it." She grinned. "You know the two of us are going to have fun at Christmas time, considering." She gestured at her and my antlers.

I ear-grinned. "Yeah. I'm going to have to look into some battery powered lights. Heh." I then noticed the voices of Kim coming from the next bed over, which was surrounded by a curtain. "What happened, anyway? After I got KO'd by your brother."

Maxine cleared her throat uncomfortably. "I'm sorry about him. He's always been a stubborn man. But he's my brother, and..." She stopped when I shook my head lightly.

"I understand completely. All too well, in fact." I sighed, and reached up to scratch her around her right ear. "I'm just glad to see your caribou face again. I missed you a lot, you know." Even though I'd only known her for a few hours before she left, I already felt like I'd known her a lifetime. "More than I can say, in fact."

She looked surprisingly glum. "That may change after you've gotten to know my family. I wouldn't use the word 'redneck' to describe them, but they're close." The doctor came in a moment later with Tim, Kim (in morph form, with her arm in a sling), Jack, and both Brians (regardless of spelling).

"You're free to go, Mr. Sleeper." The badger woman said. "Your sense of smell might be a bit damped for the next few days, but it'll be back to normal once the blood clears out. Just be careful when you blow your nose."

We waited a bit longer, I wanted to hear what had happened. Seems that Tim has a Power that was especially frightening for me. For the first time in months I felt vulnerable to physical harm! Add to that, that Tim would scowl every time Maxi and I got close, and...

The uncontrolled Shift back hadn't set Kim back too far, only a few days. "At least I can talk again!" she exclaimed joyfully. "You and I have a lot to talk about, Brian." I smelled a faint "uh-oh" scent come off of him (faint because of my stuffed up nose).

I was a bit unsteady on my feet, but Maxine kept me from falling over. I knew I could just Shift and walk steadily on all fours, but I sort of liked leaning on her shoulder (she was basically "naked" like I was, since she was of similar Degree). Tim was scowling at the both of us. And I was really tempted to scowl right back. Which wouldn't have been a good idea, even though I was probably nearing testosterone overload. "Well, how about lunch?" Bryan said. "I know a great place near Southgate Mall." Maxine nodded.

Just then I saw a familiar red-furred figure in the parking lot. "I'm afraid I might not be able to join you all," Jack said.

"You're leaving?" Bryan said. "Can you at least tell us why?"

"Not really, no. But I wanted to wait until after lunch, at least. I think Fox there wants to join us. He really wants to talk to you, Bryan. Says you have 'potential.' And that he might have a job waiting for you on the east coast, should you happen to accept it. You wouldn't have to start immediately, but if you'll at least hear him out..." he left it hanging.

Bryan shrugged. "Sure, I guess. Tell him he can come up."

The fox-man did, and Tim looked him over with another one of his scowls. "So good to see you all!" he said in his light English accent. "I'm Fox Cutter. Spy extraordinaire."

"Fox!" Jack nearly yelled.

"So sorry, old boy. You know me and my profession. I'm quite proud of it, no reason to hide it. Now, shall we go to dinner?"

We ended up taking two cars. Fox's (within rode Jack, Fox, and Bryan. Hell if I knew what they were talking about), and crammed in mine was me (in the driver seat), Maxine, Tim, Kim, and Brian (in norm, who was spending his time listening to Kim talk.)

Kim had gotten right back to work, setting up her camera to record her with her broken arm in a sling. "This is Kimberly Moss, finally putting in a report from Canada. Yes, I said Canada..." She launched into a brief description of what had happened to her, and wrapped it up. "...Channel 8 News San Diego, signing off."

"Are you really going to send that to the station?" Maxine asked Kim.

"No, it was just a rough. But I wanted to interview you, Tim. You just had an interesting experience, which is saying a lot in this new world. And I really would like to hear what you think of it."

Tim just looked at her, and shook his bullish head. "No. I won't have my good name smeared by American media. You people are all nuts, anyway. All those militia groups..." Maxine sighed and put her right hand to her muzzle between her eyes.

"What is it?" I whispered, though I had suspicions.

"It's like I told you. I'll tell you later in more detail. It's one of the reasons I left Canada after the Change..."

That left me with pause for thought. We followed the other car with Bryan and Co. inside, when they turned off the road into the parking lot of a nice looking restaurant. I parked, but those three stayed in the car for some reason. "I'll be with you guys in about a half-hour. Fox and Jack and I have a couple more things to discuss."

I shrugged, maybe a little confused, but I got another odd feeling that made me think nothing of it. "Sure thing. Can we order for you?" Brian said, he was helping Kim out of the back of my Toyota.

"Nah. I'll be back soon. See you guys later." With that, they drove off.

"I wonder what that's all about," Kim said. She had her camera. "Are you sure you won't change your mind about the questions, Tim?"

"Yes." He said.

"Fine, fine. But I'd otherwise like to interview you, Maxine."

"My pleasure." Maxine replied. This time it was her turn to scowl at her brother. She mouthed "I'm not a kid anymore" so only Tim and I could see it, and at her urging I all-too-enthusiastically put my arm around her shoulder, and she kiss/licked me on the arm. I briefly felt a surge of possessiveness about her, but since I didn't hear a Voice of any kind I assumed that it was a deeper feeling than that.

Earlier, before I'd met Tim, I'd told her "you gave me a wonderful gift, love. At least I hope so. The gift of flight. If only for a short time I felt real freedom. I can't thank you enough for that."

Tim broke me out of my remembrance by looking at my Toyota RAV-4 and saying "you Americans and your sport-utes!" He was saying "Americans" like others would say "gutter trash." "Won't your militia group miss you? Or are you on some sort of spy mission?"

Maxine gasped at that. "Tim! He's a police officer! He stopped a riot!"

"Police officer? Well, that explains something. He probably spends his time planting evidence. I know American police officers. And I don't see how a deer could stop a riot. An eagle, maybe. But a deer?"

Now it was my turn to start getting angry. Brian wasn't all too happy, either. But before I could retort, Maxine pulled my inside the restaurant by my antlers. "Hey!" I said. I was about to say to him "You know I've been in Canada nearly a day now, and I haven't seen a Mountie yet!" but Maxine prevented me. Probably a good thing...

"I'm sorry, Jon," she said. "But now you know why I left Canada after the Change. My brother and I were close, but I've changed in the past few months in more ways then one. You see, I used to think as he does. But that Change stirred a wanderlust in me that I never knew was there. I have to wonder if it was some sort of migration instinct. Anyway, I finally went out to see the world. I ended up in California about a month before I met you. Suffice to say, my whitetail boyfriend, that my whole worldview changed."

"What do you mean?" I heard Tim giving Kim and Brian another speech outside about "American politics" this time.

"I'll put it this way. Canada has a 'South' too."

"Oh."

The conversation outside suddenly took a loud turn. "I'll have you know that that deer saved my life! Not to mention the lives of a dozen officers!" Brian shouted.

"Well I don't believe it! I hunted deer all my life, and they're dumber than dirt! I never saw one that wasn't begging to be shot."

I was too shocked by what I was hearing. Maxine got angry enough to that I could smell it even with my stuffed up nose. "I think I'm in the mood for a hamburger," she said. We were about to go back out, but Brian stormed in.

"Guys, I think I have an idea on how to prove just how 'fragile' Jon is. I'm not sure how either of you are going to feel about it. But it's actually something I've been curious about ever since I learned about Maxine's Power anyway. Not to mention the what we did to get rid of that earthquake energy."

"You mean?" I said, flabbergasted.

"Yep. I want Maxine to make me a double of you. Maybe we can spar a little for fun. You're still a bit hurt, but perhaps if you give me warning on some of those instincts we won't end up goring each other. Heh."

Maxine was understandably reluctant. "I'm not sure I want to do this, guys. What if something goes wrong?"

"Don't worry about it. Is there some sort of control you can put on it just in case?" Brian asked.

"Well... when I was experimenting on Grace I found out that I could put on a sort of 'timer' that'll run out in a day or two. But I won't be able to change you back myself until the time runs out, when you'd hopefully change back anyway." She thought a bit more. "Also, since this isn't a rush job, and can put in a few differences between you and Jon. Darken your fur, let you keep your voice, and a different antler shape. That way we can tell you two apart."

"You can do all that?!" Tim said, unbelieving.

"'Bodyshaping' is my art. Once I've touched a person, I've got their shape in memory somehow. I won't have to touch Jon like that again. You know, brother, I could make you a bald eagle if you want. Heck, if he wanted, I could make Jon a dinomorph if I ever get a chance to touch one."

He scowled again in answer.

Kim turned to Brian. "Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, you won't be you when you're a deer..."

He held her good hand next to his chest. "If its one thing the Change has taught me, or rather confirmed for me, is that outside doesn't matter. Besides, Jon keeps on talking about how incredible his senses of smell and hearing are. I think it's time that I satisfy that curiosity."

"Well, okay. But I'm not all that happy about this."

"I know. But if Maxine's Power is as powerful as she says it is, you could even try a whitetail doe if you didn't have that broken arm."

Kim looked at that arm and smiled sadly. "I guess you're right. Oh well. Do it before I have more time to think about it."

Brian looked back at me. "About those warnings, Jon..."

"Okay. First of all, take shallow breaths at first. You'll be overwhelmed very quickly otherwise. Second, you're about to have ears again after several months." I rotated mine all over. "And they do this a lot. They're bound to be distracting. Third, you're about to lose your acute vision. It is sensitive to movement, but colors are muted slightly. Fourth, the culmination of all those senses is an amazing hypersensitivity to danger and other things that will give you a constant level of nervousness. This is natural, just don't let it overcome you around predators.

"And last, but certainly not least," I gestured at my swollen neck. "It's that time of the year. We both have a shield, but there's a possibility that if either of us loses control we won't think of using them. Besides, we've gotta show Tim what whitetails are made of, right?" I ear-grinned.

"Right," Brian said. "I'm ready, lets do it."

Maxine stepped up to me, putting one hand on my right shoulder, and the other on Brian's left. "You know the drill," she said. "But both of you close your eyes this time. This will feel different since I'm making a few modifications to Jon's form. Ready?" We both closed our eyes and nodded. She began.

It was an odd pulling sensation over my entire body. I felt Brian's body through mine, and I'm sure he, mine. It really didn't feel like much, but I heard Maxine puff in effort. As a different, tingling feeling moved over my entire body, part by part, there was another odd feeling when it reached my nose. Whereas before it had been stuffed, and still hurt and throbbed a little, it suddenly cleared and seemed to heal. And I could smell everything again... Which was a good thing.

She finished, then I smelled it. -rival??- My Voice said. FRIEND, HERDMATE. I thought back. And that was that. It wouldn't think of the other whitetail buck I was now smelling again as a rival. But within that whitetail smell was confusion. I opened my eyes to look at the person beside me.

As Maxine had said, Brian was different looking than I was. His overall color was more gray/brown than red. In fact, there wasn't really any red at all in his hide. He was the same Degree that I was, but I was really drawn to his antlers. He was a ten pointer, though his antler beams were slightly thinner than mine. He still had his eyes closed. And I noticed his nostrils pulsing. Then he spoke, "wow. I can hear everything! And, and..." He took a deep breath. "WOW! What a rush!" His voice was Brian's alright.

"Told you. Open your eyes." I said. He seemed not to be having problems with Instinct. Yet.

He did. "I... can't see anything. But..." He touched an ear with a hoof-like hand, and sniffed again. "This makes up for it." He seemed to be getting used to things much faster than I'd have thought. Funny... "But can we wait before we spar? I need to get used to things."

"Sure thing, Brian. I'll have to give you pointers on being a ruminant for the next couple days. Cud chewing is an art. Something you have to deal with, too, Tim."

There was that scowl again.

Bryan was driven up a moment or so later, and he got out. "Hey, guys. Who's this? And where's Brian?"

Brian decided to break the ice, "Well, here's the short of it..."

Lunch went fine. Brian seemed happy that he could taste and chew his food again. Brian did jump out of his seat three times when a predator morph walked in. Body tensed, nostrils pulsing, ears twisting around, tail bobbing. Then he'd get control and sit down. But I still couldn't tell how much he was being affected by Instinct. That worried me...

We went and found a field to fool around in. Bryan hadn't talked about his conversation with Fox and Jack much, but he did ask me once "you like National Geographic right?" But before I could answer that got Tim started on the American media. I've never seen Bryan more inclined to use his horns on somebody...

Brian seemed more confused than before for some reason. I had to hand it to Maxine, though. She did an incredible job with her "bodyshaping." I mean, the way he was acting after only a couple of hours in that form you'd think he'd been that way for several months... "Ready?" Brian said eagerly. Perhaps too eagerly.

"Sure thing," I said. Without another word, we both norm-shifted, and started sparring.

It was more of a push fight at first, we didn't put much effort into it. Besides, those tines were sharp. But then we both heard Tim say "is that all? I don't see anything." Then we put a bit more enthusiasm into it...

Perhaps too much enthusiasm. With the smell of Maxine and Kim in our nostrils, we started fighting in earnest. But it felt too good! But there was no animosity between us, I could smell it! More like playing a game of one-on-one basketball! Or a challenging game of tennis! Those were the only things I could compare it to. He was a ten-pointer and I was an eight, but that didn't matter. We were two friends having fun. That's all that mattered.

It finally ended with a move by Brian that would've broken the neck of any other creature. He locked his antlers in mine, gave them a twist, and onto the ground I went. Exhausted too much to get up. I shifted back to morph, panting like crazy, and so did he. "You know..." puff "I'm going to miss this when you get changed back into an eagle." Puff. "But maybe Maxine can do this again sometime."

Brian was breathing hard to, but I heard his next statement as clear as day. "What're you talking about, Jon? I've been this way since the day of the Change. Don't you remember how ecstatic you were when I told you I was a whitetail morph, too?"

Bryan, Maxine, Kim, and I all started at each other, "Uh oh..." we all said in unison.

Copyright 1997, Jon Sleeper

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